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August 30, 2007

There's a very good reason why Vaputech's Department of Advertising, Memetic Theory, and Suicide Prevention Prevention (motto: "You only think that you think that thought you just thought. We thought that thought that you just thought that you thought for you, so if you think that you can think any thought that you think that you might want to think, well, think again. Or... don't, because we think that we'll do a much better job doing your thinking for you from now on, don't you think? DON'T ANSWER THAT") has the smallest budget in Technology's organization. For one thing, the above is one of their more coherent mottos. It's not that DAMTSPP (trust me, in Helltongue the acronym's a killer pun) personnel are stupid; it's more that they typically have the sorts of baroque minds that can very easily spiral inward into new and exciting forms of insanity. This would be less of a problem if they didn't work for a Superior that experiments with physical laws by jumping up and down on them. The last thing Vaputech - or Hell - needs is people who can find innovative ways to court disaster; the ones that they have now are quite sufficient, thanks. So, Sparky (otherwise known as Vapula's keeper) maintains a firm upper limit on DAMTSPP's budget. Unfortunately, the department in question resents being starved for income, so it decided to go make some, literally. Specifically, they decided to come up with an ersatz form of Essence.

So they did. This was widely considered to be impossible - but hold on for a second: what, precisely, is Essence? Yes, yes, "the energy of life," a very pretty idea, and one almost certainly not ripped off from a certain classic space opera. But what does that mean?

Don't feel bad if you don't know. DAMTSPP's staff didn't have a clue, either. What they did know was that you could use Essence for fueling Songs, supernatural abilities, and affecting random probability. So all they needed to do was find something that could do all of that, preferably reliably, possibly better, definitely cheaply. What they came up with was a compound of several elements that are only found in Hell. The exact proportions are still secret (more accurately, every demon known to know the proportions is dead, and if any Demon Prince knows what it is, he, she, or it isn't talking), and the stuff is impossible to analyze when active and dissipates once used. But it was reliable and it was cheap, so DAMTSPP was certain that they had a winner on their hands. They happily marketed it as Essential™, gave out a bunch of free samples, and watched as every demon in Hell clamored for it.

Now, Servitors of Trade would be laughing at this point and making snide comments about what happened to the Spanish Empire once they dumped two continents' worth of gold and silver into one smallish country's economic ecosystem, but what actually happened was possibly even more amusing. Essence, while a currency (more or less), is also a commodity, which means that people will eventually use it. People will use it for things like Songs or probability manipulation, which meant that eventually people would be using it for actions known to occasionally trigger either a Divine or an Infernal Intervention.

Attunements: Kyriotate of War (unused), Seraph of War, Ofanite of War, Proficiency (artillery), Howl, Blood Oath, Kyriotate of Lightning, Master of Valor, Angel of Artillery. Alleyne has no vessel currently assigned to it.

Special Rite: Fire an artillery piece.

Angel of Artillery: Alleyne has a permanent +5 (his Ethereal Forces) to all skill rolls involving artillery pieces. This bonus may only be used to negate penalties to skill, as assessed by the GM. The angel also has the equivalent of a Role/2 whenever it possesses an artillery shell.

August 22, 2007

These two relics are considered by many to be symbolic of the larger struggle within Judgment; whether this is actually True, or just propaganda, is up to the individual campaign. Both relics are exceptionally old; they, in fact, date back to the First Rebellion. They are also both generally associated with Dominic's female persona, rather than his masculine one. Aside from those two similarities, they are otherwise very different artifacts.

This and the Ethereal Face to follow are old: I wrote them up a while back, and am including them to give context to the Celestial Face, which is new. Because, well, why not?
The Three Faces of Elvis: Corporeal
Or, Things to do in Memphis When You're Dead

August 10, 2007

If there's anybody out there actually contemplating running Reality Mather, they should take a look at this Pyramid article by Reverend P. Kitty on monotheistic miracles for GURPS 4e. Sorry that it's subscription-only, but it's well worth your time to read.